From Daddy: We spent his birthday at the Bishop Museum and I can’t write enough good things about the museum. They had Hawaiian artifacts and more.

She led a tour of the Hawaiian Building, July 31, 2016, 10:30 a.m.

He played with these pu’ili instruments, July 31, 2016, 10:42 a.m.

Cousins playing on statues at the Bishop Museum, July 31, 2016, 11:30 a.m.

The third floor Picture Gallery was restored to the way it originally looked, July 31, 2016, 2:49 p.m.

These are drums, July 31, 2016, 2:58 p.m.

Their signature exhibits include this whale:

The whale, photo from the Bishop Museum website

The signature exhibit of the Bishop Museum is this whale suspended from the ceiling and at eye level on the third floor of the Hawaiian Hall Complex, July 31, 2016, 10:27 a.m.

One side of the whale is a paper mache exterior and the other side is this skeleton, July 31, 2016, 2:44 p.m.

The whale has been featured at this museum since 1902!, July 31, 2016, 2:44 p.m.

This summer, they had a big “Planet Shark” exhibit.

A nice feature was the forward wall which regularly changed–like PowerPoint–to display more information about the sharks, July 31, 2016, 12:59 p.m.

There was a room for the shark exhibit that was amazing. There was a surround-experience cinema, July 31, 2016, 1 p.m.

And we enjoyed 2 planetarium shows, including one called the Wayfinders which taught us how Polynesian navigators used the stars.

While the boys waited for the planetarium show, they played with this exhibit. They moved the sand and the elevation lines automatically adjusted, July 31, 2016, 1:26 p.m.

There was more to navigating the stars than I imagined. Navigators memorized the locations of 200 stars and where they rose and fell at the horizon to determine their compass point, July 31, 2016, 2:57 p.m.

He sipped on hot chocolate on and off during the Peanuts Show, December 12, 2015, 7:46 p.m.

It “snowed” during the Peanuts Show, December 12, 2015, 7:46 p.m.

It was so cold that he wanted me to take a photo of his foggy breath, December 12, 2015, 7:21 p.m.

Let it snow at the Peanuts Show, December 12, 2015, 7:46 p.m.

After learning about the true meaning of Christmas at the twenty-minute Peanuts Show, he tries to approach Snoopy. Trapped on the other side of Snoopy was wrangler and the human star of the show “Samantha,” December 12, 2015, 7:50 p.m.

However, due to a corporate event by Intel, we were denied an opportunity to have the traditional holiday feast at Gilroy Gardens.

Earlier

At the Best Western Forest Park Inn, he found, loved, and later snuggled with Jingle Bear in the lobby, December 12, 2015, 2:21 p.m

While the park opened at 3 p.m., sadly the rides did not open until 3:30 p.m. However, we did get an early opportunity to play in snow (soap foam), December 12, 3:07 p.m.